Category Archives: Business News

By Ann Donnelly

In the heart of the Adirondack foothills, Kingsbury Printing Co., Inc. is undergoing a transformation. After over three decades of leadership by founders Bob and Jan Bombard, the reins have passed to the next generation. Daughter Victoria Bushey, VP of Finances, and her brother, Jason Bombard, Production Manager, are steering this well-established printing company into a future that honors its rich history while embracing the industry’s evolving demands.

The story of Kingsbury Printing began in 1986 when Bob Bombard, a seasoned printer, and his wife Jan, a talented designer he met while working at another printing company, joined forces to establish Franklin Press. Facing a trademark challenge from another company, they wisely rebranded as Kingsbury Printing, rooting their identity in their local community. 

Victoria Bushey has witnessed the dramatic changes in the printing industry firsthand with her exposure to the business starting as a child. “As a young adult, I worked summers,” she says. “When I was younger, days off from school, I’d come in and help my mom in the dark room.” She officially joined the family business in 2006 after graduating college. As an office manager, she gradually took on increasing responsibilities, from managing digital equipment and graphic design to overseeing the company’s finances.

By LEE COLEMAN

The Luxury Box has opened a 2,200-square foot expansion with new food and drink offerings and the largest indoor golf facility in the town of Queensbury.

Located at 1042 Route 9 between Queensbury Cigar and Adirondack Audio & Video, The Luxury Box addition includes a dedicated indoor golf area that expands the already ample number of golf suites.

“We’re excited to bring something truly unique to the Queensbury community with this new expansion,” said owner David Brindle.

“Our goal has always been to create a space where people can enjoy a memorable time, and with the new indoor golf facility and expanded food and drink options, we are able to elevate that experience even more,” he said.

The Luxury Box suites also offer other sports options such as soccer, hockey, bowling, baseball, and even shooting on simulators.

The new expansion includes Bo Dizzlez Pizza operated by Cleveland Robinson, who also owns a food truck under the same name. Food offerings include subs, fried chicken and pizza.

By Paul Post

The Go Two Guys have one thing in mind when it comes to growing their new home improvement business.

Show up, on time, and do a good job.

“We’re going to show up when we say we’re going to be there and we’re going to do quality work,” co-owner Kevin Higgins said. “We had a lady who gave us a job just because we answered the phone.”

“That’s the model we try to have with this business,” said Brian Bayle, his partner. “It’s very important. One customer said, You guys are awesome! But I said, We haven’t done anything yet. They said, That’s okay. You called back number one, you said you were going to be here and then you confirmed to make sure we’d be home.”

Two Guys specialize in all kinds of repair and renovation projects from windows, doors and floors to interior and exterior painting, drywall work and kitchen and bathroom remodeling.

“We want to do things the big buys can’t or don’t want to do,” Bayle said. “It doesn’t matter the size of the job. Just call us up.”

By Paul Post

Ed Moore’s business suit is jeans and a flannel shirt, a bit atypical perhaps for a prestigious hotel owner and prominent civic leader.

It’s a simple reflection of his mindset for achieving success in both work and life. 

“I still get my hands dirty, get in there and do what I have to do,” he said. “My father used to say a job worth doing is worth doing right. Whatever you do, do it good. When you do that, you lift people up.”

Moore has been a driving force in downtown Glens Falls’ revitalization since moving to Warren County full time from Staten Island in 1987.

“My wife, Linda, and I passed through here on our way back from Niagara Falls on our honeymoon in 1966,” he said. “We came back up in ’68 for a weekend and in 1975 I bought a piece of property and built a cabin on Schroon Lake, 50 years ago this coming September.”

Moore had a lucrative downstate career as an excavating contractor, but left it behind to make Warren County his permanent home.  

“I was smitten with the area, the mountains, all the lakes, just the beautiful calming environment,” he said. “I decided to make a life change. I wanted to get out of that rat race down there, come up here and have a change of life. It’s worked out amazingly well.

To say the least.

He owns French Mountain Commons and Log Jam Outlet Centers on the Route 9 Million-Dollar Half Mile; Fairfield Inn & Suites near Exit 18; and the Sawyer’s building (leased to Sawyer’s Kitchen & Bath) on Glen Street hill opposite Cool Insuring Arena.

But the property he’s most visibly linked to is Queensbury Hotel, which he purchased in 2016 from a Connecticut-based investment group, bringing it back under local ownership for the first time since 2001.

By Susan Elise Campbell

White Glove Janitorial Service invites area businesses to enjoy much more than a dirt-free, healthier workplace. According to founder Kris Brunelle, his “grime fighters are cleaning up the community and making a difference.” 

The veteran-owned company opened in October 2022 and now has seven staff cleaning offices and medical facilities, as well as manufacturing spaces, dealerships, and gyms. Brunelle also offers post-construction cleaning services and residential cleanup for homeowners moving in or out.

Brunelle is a former Seabee who has “built things around the world,” he said. His career as a carpenter for the Navy’s construction battalion took him to Spain, Croatia, Africa, Afghanistan, and Japan. 

After the Navy, Brunelle sold solar systems and then insurance, and while he enjoyed selling and relationship building, he said he needed something different to sustain his family. At the time that included two foster children in addition to their daughter.

“I saw in sales that companies could not always deliver what they promise and that I had no control over the product,” he said. 

The way to fix that problem was to start his own business and he chose cleaning services. After all, “there is always going to be dirt,”  he said.

Brunelle scoured the web for tutorials about commercial cleaning and watched every video. He also located a company nearby offering a master class that taught him all he “needed to know from the business side of things.”

By Rod Bacon

For millennia the cannabis plant has been valued for its use for fiber and rope, food and medicine, and for its psychoactive properties for religious and recreational use. It has also gone through periods of being accepted and being banned by countries throughout the world.

Currently, cannabis use is legal in 24 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Guam for recreational use and in 39 states for medical use. It became legal for medical use in New York state in 2016 when the Medical Cannabis Program was implemented and for recreational use in 2021 when the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into law.

There are 285 adult-use cannabis dispensaries in New York state that recently surpassed $1 billion in retail sales generating nearly $150 million in tax, fee and fine revenue. 

For those who don’t want to use cannabis with a high THC content there is cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical found in the cannabis plant that is non-impairing. It can be used to treat a variety of medical conditions without giving the user a “high” and running the risk of developing physical cravings.

By Paul Post

A family-run Warren County firm has parlayed robust Christmas tree sales into a booming maple products business.

River Bend Christmas Tree Farm in Lake Luzerne provides fresh-cut trees to nearly 1,000 customers each year.

But starting in late winter, 78-year-old Bruce Carpenter and his wife, Rosann, spend several weeks producing maple syrup on land they own in Minerva.

Their son, Jim, 43, puts his RPI business degree to good use by marketing trees and maple with a variety of social media platforms.

“Trees are a higher ticket item, but maple because it’s consumable can be sold year round,” Jim said. “During COVID we had a lot of syrup and not a lot of places to sell it so we trademarked the name, Saratoga Maple, and built a mail-order business where we ship gifts all over the country.”

In addition to traditional syrup flavors, the Carpenters age maple in a bourbon barrel to make bourbon maple syrup and a bourbon maple cream. They also make a maple walnut topping, maple jelly, hard and soft candy and a gourmet pancake mix that comes in a breakfast gift basket with bags of mix and Adirondack maple syrup.

Building on several ongoing collaborations, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and GlobalFoundries (GF) are working together to further grow and strengthen the semiconductor workforce in the region.

RPI has launched a partnership program with GF to provide their employees with opportunities to pursue degrees and enhance their skills in semiconductor technology. Through dedicated RPI scholarships and GF’s tuition assistance program, GF employees will be able to pursue a new Master of Science in Semiconductor Technology (MaST) degree and take part in other graduate programs including Rensselaer at Work certificates.

Under the expanded partnership, GF has pledged a gift totaling $150,000 over the next three years to sponsor RPI students who have a strong interest in the semiconductor industry, interwoven with an internship opportunity. The initiative aims to incentivize students to join the semiconductor industry.

“When industries and educational institutions seek ways to work together, great things happen,” said Rebecca Doerge, Ph.D., provost at RPI. “This advancement of our ongoing partnership with GF further solidifies the Capital Region’s preeminence as a hub of semiconductor research and manufacturing while addressing workforce development needs that are at the core of the CHIPS initiative.”

By Paul Post

Hal Raven could drive the train, but he’d rather be the conductor punching tickets like Tom Hanks on the Polar Express.

“That’s my thing, talking with people, interacting, getting kids excited,” he said.

His company, the Saratoga, Corinth & Hudson Railway, gives people Christmas-themed memories to last a lifetime on the Candy Cane Express, a fun festive ride that runs through Dec. 22 highlighted by visits from Santa, music, lights and hot cocoa refreshments.

Raven, a Queensbury resident, gave up a 28-year railroading career to fulfill his dream of owning a scenic line. It operates year-round between South Greenfield and Hadley on 17 miles of track owned by the Town of Corinth.

“We do all the maintenance and repairs,” he said. “When we first took over, weeds were chest high and overgrown. We had to fix all the crossings.”

Two previous operators had run tourist trains from Saratoga Springs to North Creek, but couldn’t make a go of it. This is Raven’s third year in business and by all accounts it’s full steam ahead.